Thursday, February 18, 2016

BEING 73

Well, my first day of being 73 had highs and lows but was
basically low key, with a couple of low spots.

I was awakened by my cell phone ringing. I didn't get
to it in time, but I saw it was Ned and he had left a message...it was the
recording of the birthday song we always sing. We
made a video of it one year.
It was a nice way to wake up, and also to see that it was sprinkling
outside. Rain for my birthday. Perfect (that's sincere, not
sarcastic) I thought about how my father had bought that record of
"happy birthday" by The Sportsmen (who were regulars on the Milton Berle TV
show) as a joke and how amazed he would be to know that his grandchildren
are still playing it for themselves and their friends (and that is now in a
digital form. I don't have a clue where that old 78 rpm record is any
more!

Walt was just leaving to go to breakfast with his "old
timers" group, so I fixed myself my own version of the Mexican "migas," ("my
own version" based on what ingredients we had). You cut up strips of
corn tortillas and fry them until they start to turn golden, Then you pour
in an egg, scrambled with a little milk in it. You stir that together
with the tortillas and as the egg is almost cooked add Parmesan cheese and
let it melt. I was out of Parmesan, so used cheddar and it was quite
tasty. A nice treat for my birthday breakfast.

There was an e-mail from my friend Kathy saying that her
workman would not be able to work because of the weather so should she meet
me in Davis for lunch? I told her that I would rather keep the
original plan, to eat at Olive Garden and I would explain why when I saw
her.

Shortly after Walt returned from his breakfast, I got in the
car to drive to Sacramento. I always leave time in case there is
traffic. There was none today and even taking the slow way, through
town instead of freeway all the way, I still got there 30 minutes early.
But that was OK because I was really into my audio book and I just sat in
the car and listened. I then went into the restaurant and they took me
to a table to wait for Kathy to arrive...and I had more time to listen to
the audio book with the earphones I keep in my purse for just such
occasions.

She arrived at the time she was supposed to and I told her
about my Kaiser-DMV dilemma and how I hoped to pick up my signed paperwork
after lunch. We then did our usual political roundup and I shared my
observation that I'm convinced the current election season is being
orchestrated by Monty Python. It's the only thing that makes any sense
at all.

After lunch, I drove the two blocks to Kaiser and went to
the ophthalmology office to see if they had paperwork for me. They
searched through their files and did not have anything, but suggested I go
across the hall to the Medical Records department, which was the logical
place where it would have been sent after being filled out. I went
there and found out that there is no record of anything being delivered by
courier.

In truth, I was not surprised. I have been a Kaiser
member for 63 years (my father joined when I was 10) and I think I would
have been shocked if they had the form for me.

So now I had to throw myself on the mercy of the DMV.
I had no DMV paperwork and no medical paperwork. After waiting in line
awhile, I started to explain my plight to the clerk and he gave me another
DMV form to fill out after he tested my vision, which was perfect in both
eyes.

I waited just about exactly an hour before my number, G041,
was called. In that time I tried to figure out the methodology of the
numbers. Every so often a voice would say that such-=and-such number
was being helped at window #X. But there was no rhyme or reason to the
numbers. F245 might follow A023 and precede H006. I thought my
turn was coming soon when G040 was called, but there were at least 20
numbers called, with other seemingly random letters at the start before I
was finally called. I'm sure there is a system, but I sure as heck
can't figure it out.

I was very hopeful that without the DMV paperwork
that Kaiser had, and just being considered a drop-in licensee that maybe I
could slip through the cracks and actually get my license. But no,
that was too much to hope for in this day of computers. Not only that,
but the clerk my clerk checked with was the guy who insisted that I
be tested every year in the first place. I don't know if he remembered
my case, but he was adamant that he was not going into a car with me until
he knew from a doctor that I was safe to drive. Of course last
hear he went into a car with me with only one eye and didn't seem upset
about it.

But I was back to square one. I couldn't do anything
without the damn form that was lost somewhere in the Kaiser system.
But if there is anything good to come out of it it's that I now have a
temporary license which will take me through mid-April and I'm sure I can
get all the paperwork in order by then.

Jeri called my cell phone as I was driving home and so I
went for a lovely drive in the country, through the orchards all in blossom
right now, while we chatted for about half an hour. She sang
our happy birthday song, since she didn't have access to the recording.

I got home from my very long day and checked email and
Facebook and discovered more than 200 birthday wishes. I feel very
loved indeed.

Walt
and I were catching up on the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (I'm a sucker
for that show and watch it every year. Walt and I even remembered
Banana Joe, the Affenpinscher who won Best in Show back in 2013 (his handler
then was handling another dog this year). To tell the truth, dog shows
about confirmation instead of ability seem kind of silly to me, but I do
love looking at all the different breeds....and all the weird grooming,
especially on poodles and on any of the long-haired cute dogs who look like
they'd be great for dusting my floors!

In the middle of the show, the phone rang and it was
Brianna. After some starts and stops, we managed to get FaceTime
working, I paused the dog show and I talked with Bri and Lacie (sorta) for
over half an hour. The girls are kind of getting the hang of it,
though there was still a lot of silliness and I must say that they must
really be enamored of the new toilet installed in their bathroom because
they kept showing me pictures of it, open and closed, over and over again.
Brianna wanted to see Polly and Lizzie, and it was fun to be able to show
them to her, though the dogs were confused when she called to them.
But it was a fun conversation and Tom gave me a guided tour of their
extensive house renovations (and he did not sing the family birthday
song)

We went back to watching the recording of the dog show and I
was thrilled when C.J., a German Short-Hair Pointer won his 15th Best of
Show award in the last 18 months. C.J. stands for "California
Journey," so it's kind of a local dog makes good thing. On a personal
level, I was thinking back to Keno and Chippa, Peggy's two GSPs and how
thrilled she would be to know about CJ's win. But of course I can't
tell her.

When the dog show was over, I realized that I had not
prepared anything for dinner and that the Blue Apron stuff, delivered today,
was still frozen, so I whipped up some quick spaghetti (without the Parmesan
that I didn't have for breakfast either) which was no gourmet treat, but at
least filled our bellies.

Tomorrow Walt is taking me out to dinner after I finish
working at Logos. He also bought me a Kindle elephant book that has
been on my Amazon Wish List for some time.

So all things considered, it was a good birthday, even if I
still don't have my driver's license!